Sweet Dreams Are Made Of These

Today’s Brew: Water. Just finished being zumbarific.

by Kristen

Kristen: Hey, I’m reading the Marilyn Manson biography and there’s a part in it where him and his friend totes used to harass a Pagoda girl.
Dora: That’s an odd book to read. Why?
And I bet the Pagoda chick ate that right up.
Kristen: Research, silly. Crazy rawk stah. And no, she didn’t.
Dora: Research for what? I’m a little scared.
Kristen: Book writing, silly. Safe place to find out the worst case scenario.
Dora: I know, but that’s like…WORST case.
Kristen. Exactly. Mission accomplished from the comfort of my own home. Don’t worry, it’s disturbing.
Dora: Well I guess it’s OK then. Just don’t relate to it and we’ll be fine.

Dora’s my most conservative friend by a long shot. I love her anyway. Still, I was a little surprised by her reaction to me reading this book. I’d always thought of Marilyn Manson more as theater than anything else.

I’m still convinced if the Antichrist is actually walking the earth, they’re probably a lot scarier than that and hidden in plain sight.

As you may know, I love reading rock star biographies. The dirtier, the more controversial, the better. (Check out some of my top recommendations here.) So when my friend Liz told me about the debauchery that took place in the Manson bio The Long Road Out Of Hell, I begged her to lend it to me. We all know debauchery is high on my list of favorite things. I practically refused to query Because The Night if I couldn’t use that word.

The book did not disappoint. At some points, I felt better if I considered it fiction than non fiction, because there is some messed up stuff that goes on. Honestly, the things that bothered me the most were the things that the little boys in his neighborhood did. It bothered Marilyn as well. These are the people who grew up to be “well adjusted.”

The treatment of groupies was a bit alarming as well, especially when The Jim Rose Circus was involved. (What the hell ever happened to them, anyway?) Now of course, when we tell stories in first person about ourselves, we tend to leave out the incriminating parts. But a lot of times it seemed like Marilyn was a little freaked out, as well. He identified with some of them, outcasts just looking to be accepted.

Don’t we all feel like that sometimes?

Don’t tell Dora, but I could identify with Marilyn a bit. He knew he didn’t fit in. He didn’t agree with the stereotypical expectations of what it meant to be a responsible adult. He wanted to expose what he thought was hypocrisy. Of course, he chose a very dark way to do it. But it reminded me of the quote I put in my last post:

“If you want to make enemies, try to change something.” – Woodrow Wilson

Many of the protest letters against the band were included, written by town committees, politicians, and religious organizations. I have to wonder, do they still have a problem with the band? If you go to their website, you’ll see that their makeup is provided by MAC. So they went from being paid to not perform to being sponsored by an arm of the Estee Lauder corporation? What changed? Was it that Christina Aguilera cover of The Beautiful People?

Dora will probably also be disappointed to learn that Liz and I are going to see Manson and Alice Cooper on Friday Night.